mathematics, we use the word 'isosceles' of a triangle two of whose sides are

equal, and this equality must be absolute, the slightest addition or

subtraction being intolerable.  When the day labourers complained, 'thou hast

made them equal to us', it was because every one received just exactly one

penny, neither more nor less.  When Peter confessed that God had given the

Gentiles 'like gift as (He did) unto us' (Acts 11:17) he used the word isos.

On two occasions the Saviour is said to be 'equal' with God.  Once by His

enemies, who denied the rightfulness of His claim, and took up stones,

signifying their conviction that His claim was blasphemous (John 5:18; 8:59),

and once by the apostle, who in an inspired passage, testified of the same

Saviour that He 'thought it not robbery to be equal with God' (Phil. 2:6).

We are consequently presented with a problem.  The prophet Isaiah makes

it clear that there is no one who can ever be equal with God; the apostle

Paul as emphatically declares that equality with God was the Saviour's normal

condition.  As there can be no discrepancy permitted where both utterances

are inspired, there is but one conclusion possible.  Isaiah and Paul speak of

the same glorious Person.  As we have already seen the Christ of the New

Testament is the Jehovah of the Old Testament.  Israel were reminded that at

the giving of the law at Sinai, they heard a voice 'but saw no similitude'

(Deut. 4:12), and were enjoined to make no graven image or 'the similitude of

any figure' (Deut. 4:15,16,23,25).  Yet the same Moses is said to have beheld

'the similitude' of the Lord:

'With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark

speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold' (Num. 12:8).

And again, the Psalmist looked forward in resurrection to beholding the

face of the Lord, and awaking in His likeness (Psa. 17:15).  The word

'apparently' (Num. 12:8) indicates visibility, the Hebrew word mareh being a

derivation of raah, 'to see'.  It is nevertheless stated soberly and

categorically, that 'No man hath seen God at any time' (John 1:18; 1 John

4:12).  In addition to this John records the Saviour's own declaration:

'Ye have neither heard His voice at any time, nor seen His shape' (John

Yet, every reader knows that passages can be found in the Old Testament

which declare that man has both 'seen' Him and 'heard' His voice.  In

Genesis, Jacob, in some apprehension, says of Esau his brother, 'Afterward I

will see his face' (Gen. 32:20), and before the chapter is finished Jacob

says, 'I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved' (Gen. 32:30).

When Moses and the elders of Israel went up into the mountain 'they saw the

God of Israel' (Exod. 24:10).  So with respect to hearing, Moses asks:

'Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the

fire, As Thou Hast Heard, and live?' (Deut. 4:33).

No man has seen God at any time, no man has heard His voice at any

time, yet Israel both saw the God of Israel and heard His voice.  Once again

Christ is the glorious solution of the mystery.  He is the Image of the

invisible God, He is the Word, and the God of Israel seen by Moses and the

Elders, the God Who gave the law at Sinai, and the Man who would not reveal

His name Who wrestled with Jacob at Peniel (the face of God), and is none

other than the selfsame One Who, in the fulness of time, emptied Himself,

took upon Him the form of a Servant, and stooped to the death of the cross.

He is Emmanuel, God with us.  He is God 'manifest in the flesh'', and we

today, even as Israel of old in their degree, see the glory of God in the

face of Jesus Christ.  If Christ be not God, then we must admit that there